GAARD OF HONOUR
Martin’s wonderstrike nearly wasted but erratic Gunners take charge late on
ARSENAL’S late, late show saw Mikel Arteta’s men place one foot in the Europa League quarter-finals.
The Gunners’ defensive demons look like they had returned to haunt them again in Athens after Martin Odegaard gave them a first-half lead with a venomous strike for his first goal for the club.
But this Arsenal team, which Arteta still insists are going to go ‘bang’ soon - still far too often go bang alright only to shoot themselves in the foot.
Goalkeeper Bernd Leno played substitute Dani Ceballos into trouble, Youssef El Arabi pounced to score.
Suddenly, what had seemed a safe bet had turned into a knifeedge situation.
But then up popped Gabriel with a fine header and five minutes from time, Mohamed Elneny rifled home a late third goal.
Arsenal were swiftly out of the blocks in and could have been two goals ahead in 10 minutes. First Kieran Tierney’s cross found Odegaard completely unmarked, but the Norwegian scuffed his shot wide from only 10 yards out.
Then Hector Bellerin crossed from the other flank, and PierreEmerick Aubameyang’s header took a wicked defection off ex- Gunners defender Sokratis - but Olympiakos goalkeeper
Jose Sa brilliantly clawed the ball onto the bar and away to safety. Arsenal’s full-backs, especially Tierney, were causing havoc down the flanks.
Sa twice had to stop free-kicks, from David Luiz and Aubameyang.
The only danger looked likely to come if Arteta’s team, as they too often do, got sloppy.
And it nearly happened when Odegaard gave the ball away to Bruma, but he shot straight at Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno.
Then though it was Olympiakos who gave the ball away as Giorgos Masouras blundered, Odegaard picked it up, fired in a ferocious drive from 30 yards – and Sa could not stop it, though the Portuguese keeper should have done better.
But those errors were still there, Luiz losing the ball to Masouras though the Gunners escaped as he blazed wide of the open goal. Arsenal, for the most part, looked in control. But then came another of those stupid errors.
This time Leno played substitute Dani Ceballos into trouble with a risky pass out of defence, in pounced El Arabi and he rattled the ball home for yet another terrible goal to concede by the Gunners.
Now it was a test of character for Arteta’s men, as El Arabi shot just wide from eight yards.
But somehow they made it - as Willian crossed and fellow Brazilian Gabriel sent a looping header into the far corner of the net. A lengthy VAR check followed but the goal was given.
Until then it had all looked very shaky for the visitors.
But six minutes later substitute Elneny strode forward to slam in a third goal from 30 yards, sending a curling strike in off the post and put his side firmly in the driving seat in the tie.
HARRY KANE has become Tottenham’s passport to European success this season.
He scored twice last night as Jose Mourinho’s men put one foot in the quarter-finals and it is difficult to think of a better, more in-form striker in the Europa League.
The England captain has 26 goals in all competitions, eight of them in Europe, Spurs making light work of Dinamo Zagreb at White Hart Lane.
They travel to Croatia next week aiming to complete the job with Kane irreplaceable and enjoying arguably the best season of his career.
If Tottenham are to end a 13-year wait for a trophy, then it will be Kane who scores the goals and creates the chances because he is also up to 16 assists for this campaign. His game has gone up a level.
The Londoners opener came after 25 minutes when Erik Lamela slalomed his way through the Dinamo Zagreb defence and into the box.
He unleashed a low shot which beat keeper Dominik Livakovic, hit a post and rebounded back to Kane for a simple tap-in.
That was Kane’s 29th goal in his last 34 starts in European competition and it would be hard to think of an easier goal among those.
Zagreb had very little to offer in return, Lovro Majer fitting the stereotypical role of the mercurial Croatian No.10, complete with hairband, nice control and skill but lacking in end product as the visitors struggled to make headway.
Tottenham should have had a penalty five minutes into the second half when Majer made a clumsy challenge on Tanguy Ndombele but, inexplicably, Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk did not give a spot-kick and neither did the VAR.
See? It is not just English referees and VAR officials who are making strange decisions this season. This was one that had Mourinho and his coaching staff fuming.
Zagreb’s best chance came on the hour mark when they broke away but Bruno Petkovic wasted a good opening by smashing his shot into the side netting.
But that was as close as it got for the visitors.
It was effectively all over in the 70th minute. Ndombele switched the play brilliantly, Serge Aurier put over a cross and Dinamo defender Kevin Theophile-Catherine made a terrible mess of a clearance.
The ball fell perfectly to Kane, who even had enough time to control it, take his time and then drive it into the net to wrap things up.
Boss Mourinho was even able to ring the changes towards the end of the game, bring on Gareth Bale and give a few players a breather ahead of Sunday’s North London derby while still looking very comfortable.
Kane was among those replaced, sitting with a big bag of ice on his right knee, which may be a slight concern for Mourinho with the Arsenal game looming.
Bale could have made an impact but missed a good chance at the end to make it 3-0 and kill off the tie.
Spurs will be without Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for the trip to Zagreb.
He came on as a late sub and picked up a yellow card, which rules him out of second leg.
Manchester United’s newest star announced his arrival in sensational style last night, scoring with an audacious header five minutes after coming on.
But United’s hopes of taking a lead to the San Siro next week were dashed in the second minute of added time by Milan defender Simon Kjaer, courtesy of a blunder from Dean Henderson.
Big things are expected of Amad, who arrived at United in January after completing a move from Atalanta in a deal worth up to £37million on deadline day last October.
And the 18-year-old lived up to that billing last night, making his mark with a moment of individual brilliance.
This was a tie worthy of the Champions League, the two clubs sharing 10 European Cups between them, United with three. Their presence in the Europa
League showed how far they have fallen in recent years, although a return to the Champions League is surely imminent given that both sides are lying second in their domestic leagues.
The Italians had the ball in the United net after five minutes through Rafael Leao, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.
United went close three minutes later,
Anthony Martial forcing a fine save from Gianluigi Donnarumma after unleashing a goalbound half-volleyed effort from the edge of the area.
The frenetic start to the tie continued in the 11th minute when Franck Kessie took advantage of United’s sloppy defending to send a looping angled effort beyond keeper Henderson. But a VAR check deemed that Kessie had handled the ball in the buildup to his fine finish.
United, favourites with bookies to win the Europa League, were woeful in the first half, allowing Milan to
dominate possession. The Italian side were able to get in behind United’s defence at will and Henderson needed to make a vital block to keep out Alexis Saelemaekers.
At the other end, United skipper Harry Maguire was guilty of a staggering miss from point-blank range in the 38th minute. From a corner on the right, Bruno Fernandes flicked on
to the far post where Maguire was lurking unmarked. But, from less than a yard out, he somehow shinned the ball onto the post.
United needed a spark and it came from Amad, who replaced Martial.
Fernandes spotted the teenager and chipped a clever ball towards him. The Ivory Coast youngster still had plenty to do but he did it exquisitely, sending a looping back-header over the stranded Donnarumma.
Amad, tracked by United since 2016 when he excelled at an Under15
tournament, repaid that faith with his goal, likely to be the first of many in a red shirt.
He became the club’s fourth-youngest European scorer, behind Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and George Best.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made changes to see out the game. But the Italians were not to be denied, Henderson badly blotting his copybook at the death when he should have done an awful lot better with Kjaer’s header.
The mistake leaves United with a huge task in Milan.
Man Utd 1 AC Milan 1 BY DAVID McDONNELL MANCHESTER UNITED manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer blamed keeper Dean Henderson for putting their Europa League hopes in jeopardy. Henderson (left) failed to stop Simon Kjaer’s tame 92ndminute header, which earned Milan a draw and a vital away goal ahead of next week’s return leg. “It was a header from six yards. He can save it. I’ve seen him save them,” Solskjaer said.
Substitute Amad Diallo, 18, had put United ahead with his first goal for the club just five minutes after coming on at half-time. But Henderson’s failure to keep